Devices and apparatuses adapted to automatically dispense beverages from containers such as bottles and the like are known in the art. Some of these devices and apparatuses maintain the bottles or similar receptacles in an upside down position and dispense the beverage contained therein by suitably opening a valve which allows the beverage to fall by gravity into a container conveniently positioned at the mouth of the receptacle itself.
Other known devices keep the bottles, or similar receptacles, in an upright vertical position, resting on their bottom, and dispense the beverage by means of two tubes introduced into the bottle through the cap of the bottle itself. An inert gas is pressurized into the bottle through one of the aforesaid tubes thus keeping the beverage pressurized. When the dispensing tap associated with a tube is opened, the pressurized gas allows the beverage to be dispensed through the other tube. Devices and apparatuses of this second type are particularly suitable in all those cases, such as for example in the case of wine, in which the beverage contained in the bottle would suffer a decline of its organoleptic quality due to the upside down position of the bottle itself.
However, the devices and apparatuses from the state of the art have drawbacks and limitations which prevent the distribution and a more widespread use thereof.
In the case of devices adapted to dispense beverages from containers kept in vertical or standing position, one of the most common problems relates to the level of cleanliness of the dispensing tube, which is often insufficient to ensure the complete suppression of the problem related to possible beverage residues in the tube when subsequently dispensing.
Patent number IT1352873 describes an apparatus for dispending beverages from containers kept in a vertical or standing position, comprising a tapping unit consisting of a main body comprising a solenoid valve and a tap adapted to engage with the neck of the bottle from which the beverage is to be tapped by means of a conical mouth. A first conduit adapted to allow the inert gas to enter into the bottle, and a second conduit in which the tapped beverage flows and is connected to the dispensing spout, are inside the tap. The second conduit has a chamber closed by the plunger of the solenoid valve and a branch connected to the inert gas circuit.
During operation, the pressurized gas contained in the bottle will push the liquid through the second conduit and the chamber up to the dispensing spout where it will be collected by the user.
Once the preset quantity of liquid has been tapped, the solenoid valve closes and, after a short time span required to allow the liquid remaining in the second conduit to flow downstream of the branch, a gas jet is blown through the branch, which allows all the remaining liquid drops to be completely eliminated in the second conduit and in the spout.
This embodiment requires the presence of two separate circuits for pressurizing the gas, one of which intended to dispense the beverage and the other one intended to emit the jet for cleaning the dispensing tube once the dispensing itself has been occurred. The two separate circuits have different pressures and thus constitute two devices for adjusting the gas pressure. This construction is complex, costly, and subject to gas leakages if not appropriately maintained by preventive maintenance and checking.
Moreover, such construction requires that, during dispensing, the beverage travels within the described chamber, which chamber is not involved with the cleaning jet and, in the case of beverages coming up against organoleptic degeneration such as wine, may cause problems for the subsequent dispensing operations.
Therefore, when using a dispensing unit with beverage dispensing devices it should be constructed to overcome the described drawbacks while allowing the construction to be simplified by introducing a single gas pressurizing circuit. Preferably, such unit has two valves and a single reducer, thereby decreasing the complexity and cost of the construction as well as the incidence of gas leakages.